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Next Generation Wi-Fi – What 802.11ac Means to You

The next generation in wireless networking, 802.11 ac, is here. It goes faster, delivers better throughput and it's more secure. Now is the time to decide whether deploying this new Wi-Fi solution makes sense for your needs as a business.

Frontier Communications and Adtran as discussed what 802.11 ac can mean for your organization and your bring-your-own-device strategy:
-What are the true advantages?
-What makes 802.11 ac different?
-Where should you use it?
-What's the difference between Wave One and Wave Two 802.11 ac?

Next Generation Wi-Fi – What 802.11ac Means to You

3.
*
• Wireless connectivity to the AP will approach 1
gigabit per second
• Wi-Fi Alliance announced certification program in
June 2013
• 802.11ac amendment to 802.11-2012 standard is
currently in Draft 7, full ratification expected 1st half
of 2014
• Standard has been sufficiently stable such that Wi-Fi
chipsets are available to access point manufacturers
who have introduced consumer and enterprise
access points
• 802.11ac is a great example of how Wi-Fi continues
to improve and remain relevant
802.11ac is Coming
3

5.
802.11ac Operates on 5Ghz
 Less interference
 More opportunities for channel bonding
…that’s good
..but the drawback is less range (about 20%)
5

6.
Anticipate What Will Happen With
the Controller
• As with 802.11n, more attention will be on the
radio than the controller architecture, creating a
d’oh moment
• Many will overlook the need to upgrade the
backplane of the controller to accommodate the
higher speeds introduced by 802.11ac
• The best step to take before introducing 802.11ac
is to convert your WLAN to a distributed data
plane
• Don’t let ac stand for “another controller” – this
can be the great hidden cost of 802.11ac
6

7.
Other Stuff
Can an 802.11 a/b/g/n AP be
magically converted to an
802.11ac AP?
No, 802.11ac is a different
radio chip set. By the
way, wave 1 is a different
chip set than wave 2.
It takes two to tango. 802.11ac can support
current devices that operate in 5Ghz but the
full potential of 802.11ac is realized when
BOTH the device and AP support the
standard.
Device
AP
A future wave of 802.11ac will leverage two Ethernet ports.
Think about the implication on your wired network.
The price difference between ac
and n (15% to 20% over 3x3:3
802.11n) will make n the dominant
choice in 2014 in the enterprise.
7
802.11ac will exceed 1Gbs;
but how can you go faster
than that with this?

8.
Exception to the 802.11ac AP
Replacement Rule
– One exception to new access point is Cisco
3600 11n with field upgradeable radio
– The 802.11n radio chipset can be removed
and replaced with an 802.11ac chipset
– If you go this route, understand two things
• Calculate the total cost (current AP with the
removable chipset plus the cost of the new chipset
• Note the CPU and memory as this may not be
sufficient for optimal 802.11ac performance
8

10.
Wave 1
– Available today
– 5Ghz operation, moving away from crowded 2.4 GHz band
– Backwards compatible with 802.11a/n
– Up to 80 MHz channel width (Very High Throughput (VHT))
– 256 QAM modulation
– Up to 3 spatial streams
– Single User MIMO (SU-MIMO) AP can only transmit to 1 client at
a time like a hub
– Data rates up to 1.3 Gbps
– Will be used in
• Vanity upgrades
• High user density environments
• High throughput applications such as video and applications with large file
transfers (CAD)
10

11.
Wave 2
– Hardware chipsets arriving from chipset vendors
late this year/early next
– Adds the following:
• Up to 160 MHz channel width
• Multi User MIMO (MU-MIMO) AP can transmit to
multiple clients at the same time (up to 4) like a switch
• Standards based Transmit Beamforming (TxBF)
– Focus radio frequency energy at the client
• Data rates up to 3.5 Gbps
– Will become the de-facto standard as chipset
vendors switch production to 11ac, chipset prices
reduce, and clients become prevalent
11

12.
11ac Wave 1 Infrastructure
Requirements
• Gigabit switchports
– Theoretical data rates up to 1.3 Gbps which can translate
to actual throughput of 50 to 60% in clean RF environment
– Combined with 2.4 GHz 802.11n radio can add up to 700
to 900 mbps throughput
• May require a switch upgrade
• May require a wireless controller upgrade
– Fix that by not using a physical wireless controller that
concentrates the traffic
• May require 802.3at (PoE+)
– Many 802.11ac access points will operate on 802.3af but
will lose functionality if not deployed on 802.3at (PoE+)
12

14.
What About LAN/WAN Bandwidth?
• Faster speeds and more IP end-
points may impact LAN/WAN
resources
– Consider the user experience –
availability and performance of
applications
– Also consider reliability, security and
scalability as part of overall
performance
• Optimize the LAN/WAN
management and, if needed, add
bandwidth to support cloud and
mobile computing access through
the WLAN
14

15.
Summary Points
• WLANs with distributed data planes are ideal for
802.11ac
• 5GHz is less crowded by the range is less
• Many 802.11ac APs will require POE+ for full operation
• Both wave 1 and wave 2 802.11ac require physically
different chip sets
• Price difference between a 3x3:3 802.11n AP and a
3x3:3 802.11ac AP is 15% - 20% but this difference will
narrow over time
• Multi-user MIMO comes in wave 2
• 802.11ac deployment may impact LAN/WAN
performance, so be prepared
15